Ep. 076 – How to Be A Food Lawyer with Cesare Varallo, Vice-President Business and Regulatory Affairs at Inscatech and owner at foodlawlatest.com

Food Law is one of those topics I fell asleep at in college. But it wasn’t until working in the industry did I find just how important it really is.

If you’ve been a fan of this podcast, you might have heard my frustrations learning about how the Europeans deal with GMOs. If you’re a first time listener, I’ll talk about it again.

But Ceasare Varallo is the man when it comes to making me excited about food law. He’s a lawyer in Italy who focuses on such things as food fraud, regulatory compliance, and communicating crises.

This is an amazing interview all about being a food lawyer. You’ll learn how to get a job in regulatory, how to get people to trust you as an expert and the amazing food technologies Cesare’s really into. One in particular that I haven’t heard of until recently… block chain technology

About Cesare Varallo

Cesare is a food lawyer based in Italy. Food labelling and food regulatory issues at national at international level are his main areas of specialisation. Founder of the website www.foodlawlatest.com, in 2013 he started his own independent law practice. In this context, in addition to labelling compliance services, he regularly provides advice to clients in relation to crisis management.

As of April 2014 Cesare is Vice-President Business and Regulatory Affairs EU at Inscatech, a US based company provider of food fraud intelligence, forensically based vulnerability assessments, and validated supply chain mapping.

He is involved in several teaching and scientific activities, both for private companies and public institutions, especially regarding food labelling and safety, allergens and import/export requirements.

Cesare speaks Italian and English.

Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by FoodGrads, an interactive platform for the Food & Beverage Industry, which focuses on closing the gap between students and employers with a broader mission to attract and retain people to a meaningful career in food. From Food Scientists to Farmers, Chefs to Plant Managers, QA Technicians to Dieticians, or Marketing and Sales, no matter what your passion–there’s something for everyone in Food—and they will help you find it.

Join FoodGrads for support, mentorship and guidance to start your career. Just go to foodgrads.com

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I am also inviting you to sign up on our email list at myfoodjobrocks.com. I am doing this new thing called the 5 course meal where I send you 5 pieces of hand picked content and deliver it every Friday morning. Like a meal kit…

Knowledge Bombs

Ceasare’s work is three fold: food safety, regulatory, and managing communication

How Ceasare found his niche in food law

Why regulatory is getting more and more important

The interesting things about food marketing

How to learn more about food regulatory

Question Summary

Introduction in a sentence or less?: I’m a food lawyer. I help food companies to reach the compliance
Cesare started with commodities at first and then went to more complicated things laterSteps it took to get to where you are today: Criminal lawyer, switched law firm and found food clients. Noticed about the specific type of advice
Foodlawlatest.com

Blogging advice
If you have good content, it will be successful
Avoid scandal or “fake news”, give useful facts
Interacting with your audience is super important

What’s the most important skill you need for your job?: How you communicate and interact with peopleHow do you get people to trust you more?: A blog with good content is a sign of trust, facts are a sign of trust, showing that you really know what you’re talking about. Keep on delivering good content and make them comfortable.The customer today is much more informed
Customers are reading more food labels and are willing to spend good, safe, tasty and authentic food.Food Technology:Smart Agriculture, Drones, Artificial Intelligence to spot food safety issues, block chains,Block Chain:Technology used to secure the financial transactions: bitcoins/ cryptocurrency. Will help food fraud a lot.Biggest Challenge the food industry needs to face: Fraudulence and trust. Big companies are not trusted. Local is more trusted. A small minority has a lot of powerWhat is something you would like to know more about?: Marketing. How much work it takes to do marketing campaigns. How do you make things Viral?Favorite Book:Lord of the RingsFavorite Quote: Winston Churchill: success consists of going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasmFavorite Kitchen Item: My favorite dish is risotto so I like a really big wooden spoon

Advice getting into the food regulatory industry: Get your hands dirty. You can’t imagine the complexity with regulatory issues. It’s more about how you approach the problem
Where can we find you?: Foodlawlatest@gmail.com